Under the Right Circumstances
by maboroshi
Summary: EPILOGUE up ie FINISHED!! What happens when Ganko tries to help out big sister Fuuko and get a science assignment at the same time? A downright silly fic. Pls r&r :).
1. The Assignment

**Under the Right Circumstances…******

Disclaimer: FoR does not belong to me etc, etc.

Note: I was in the middle of a Fuu+Mi fic when I decided to take a break and write something different. It's turning out to be longer than I expected, though. I'm hoping to finish this ASAP (which is why it might seem a bit rushed) and then get the Fuu+Mi fic done in the next few months. Not promising anything though, with my own pile of assignments to do and all :)…

On another note, I'd like to thank those who took the time to read and review my other fic, especially Kitsune-Megami for giving me my first ever review and Kaze Yurei again for telling me to turn off that signed review thing *embarrassed laugh*. I might be interested in writing a continuation of "A Moment's Reflection" (thanks for that idea Kurei) but I dunno when tho. Anyway, have fun reading.

Chapter 1: The Assignment

Ganko found her big sister Fuuko having a snack in the kitchen when she got back.

"Hey! How was school?" the older girl asked as she munched on a sandwich.

Ganko grinned back as she dumped her bag on the floor and pulled up another chair at the table. "It was great, Fuuko-neechan. I beat up a boy for laughing at me when the teacher wasn't looking, and another one at lunchtime when he tried to bully this little kid."

"Wow! Good job, Ganko!" Fuuko said in admiration, "At this rate, you'll be even stronger than I was at your age."

The little puppet-master turned pink with delight at the praise. There was no way she'd ever be stronger than her big sister. Nor did she want to. To her, Fuuko would always be the strongest female fighter in the whole world.

"Got any homework?" Fuuko asked, breaking into her thoughts.

Ganko's smile disappeared. She'd completely forgotten about it. "Our science teacher gave us an assignment today…" she said slowly.

"You got an assignment?!" exclaimed Fuuko. "I never heard the word until I was in junior high! When I was nine, all we did in science was cut out paper skeletons!" She was genuinely outraged, but managed to control her temper to ask, "What on earth do you have to do?"

"We have to perform an experiment and then write a report on it."

"Oh," Fuuko said, relieved, "well there are tons of books on that sort of thing in the library. We can just pick out a simple one no prob."

Ganko shook her head. "But I want to do something different, Fuuko-neechan. Something nobody will think of."

"Oh… do you want some help thinking up one?"

Ganko looked down at her lap. It was her first assignment and she really wanted to come up with an idea herself, but at the same time, she didn't want to hurt her big sister's feelings.

Fuuko sensed the little girl's internal struggle and smiled. "Hey," she said, "it's okay to say no. I understand."

"Y-you do?"

"'Course! I remember wanting to do stuff by myself when I was little. You know I'll always be here if you do need help." Then she winked, "Just don't do anything illegal, okay?"

******

The next day, Ganko still didn't think of anything. She was so worried about it that she got into trouble six times for not listening in class and didn't even react when Kenji (the boy she beat up for teasing her yesterday) made a jibe about her name [ganko = pigheaded/ stubborn in Japanese].

Her panic level went up a hundred notches more when she was walking home. She had to think of something now! Then she could plan it out for the rest of the day to be prepared for tomorrow and Sunday, if needed. And when Monday came around, she would be one of the first to hand it in to the teacher personally. The trouble was… she couldn't think of anything!

"Morikawa!"

Ganko turned as a high voice called out her name. A brown-haired boy around her age ran up to her, panting slightly. It was Kenji.

"What?" Ganko said in an unfriendly tone as she balled her hand into a fist. "Come to tease me again?"

"No," Kenji said, shaking his head vigorously, "I was just wondering if you thought up something for the science assignment yet."

"What's it to you?"

"I'm just wondering."

"What if I haven't?"

"Then would you like to pair up with me?"

Ganko looked at him, surprised. "What?"

Kenji shrugged. "You know, sensei said we could do it individually or in pairs. Just thought we could do it together."

Ganko eyed him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Well, we're both smart, so if we combine brain power we'll definitely think up something great!" Kenji replied, grinning. "I promise I won't tease you while we're working together. Deal?" he stuck out his hand.

Ganko weighed up her options. There was the library with the thousands of experiments she could choose from or she could still try to produce an original assignment... with a little help.

"Deal," she said, shaking Kenji's hand.

******

"Wow, he's pretty cute," Fuuko whispered to Ganko as they waited in the living room.

Ganko went red. "He's not my boyfriend, Fuuko-neechan," she insisted, "he's not even a friend. We're just…"

"…here on business." Fuuko finished for her teasingly, "I heard you the first time."

"Could you make sure Kondo doesn't come and disturb us?"

"Already done," Fuuko said brandishing a key, "I locked him under the staircase."

"My mum said it was alright," Kenji said, suddenly emerging from the kitchen, "but I have to be home by six."

"That should be enough time," Ganko said.

"Now, you two go on and do what you have to," Fuuko said, smiling, "I'll be out of the way down here. Don't be too shy to yell if you need anything."

"Come on," Ganko said, quickly hustling Kenji up the stairs before Fuuko said anything embarrassing. She slid open her bedroom door and threw down her school bag.

"Neat room," Kenji said, looking around. He sat down on the seat she pulled out for him. "You know, that's a pretty neechan you have."

Ganko smiled. "Yeah, I know."

"So… does she, you know, have a boyfriend?" he asked, a bit embarrassed.

Ganko scowled. "What if she doesn't?"

"What?!" Kenji almost yelled. "But she's so cute!"

"I know," she agreed, "it's just that Fuuko-neechan doesn't seem interested."

"My butt she's not interested! If she had them all banging on her door you'd be surprised at how interested she'd become!"

Ganko sighed. "It would be interesting to see how she'd react…" she stopped as a thought struck her. "I wonder if human experiments are legal?" she said slowly.

Kenji stared at her silently for a while. "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then it'd be more like an experiment to study human behaviour, and I think that's alright."

The two looked at each other.

"It'd be hard…"

"But with the two of us, not impossible."

"Let's do it."

Author's note: Hmm… seems a bit unbelievable how they both thought of the same thing at once, but hey, I'm trying to get to the good bit :). So how'd you guys like it so far? Great idea? Bad idea? Please speak your minds by getting those reviews in.

On the next chapter, a little something on Fuuko's past…


	2. Fuuko's Interlude

**Under the Right Circumstances…******

Chapter 2: Fuuko's Interlude

Test Subject: Kirisawa Fuuko

Aged sixteen, this is one cool oneechan who enjoys combat training as well as playing video games in her spare time. And she wouldn't turn down a good fight or a bowl of pork ramen either. Despite her sometimes bossy and loud-mouthed demeanour, Kirisawa Fuuko has a kind heart and is always ready to help those in need to the best of her abilities.

["Gee, that wasn't very biased at all, was it?" ~K with sarcasm~

 "I did add 'bossy' and 'loud-mouthed'!" ~G~

 "Now I see the resemblance… ow!" ~K getting punched~]

Fuuko knocked on the door and slid it open. Two pairs of eyes innocently stared back at her as she entered the room. "Thought you guys might like something to eat," she said, setting a plate of cake down on the table.

"Thanks Fuuko-neechan," Ganko said in a sugary voice.

"Yeah, thanks neechan," Kenji said, equally as sweet.

"Uh, no problem," she said and then hurried out. The two of them were giving her the creeps… and what was this weird feeling in her stomach?

Fuuko sighed as she wandered downstairs. She was imagining things. As if sweet little kids like those two would be up to something. She sat down on the couch and flicked through a sports magazine. It wasn't so long ago when she had also been nine years old. Those were days when her mum had been around the house a whole lot more, and when her dad had still been around.

_"Still haven't beaten Recca-kun, I see," Kirisawa Seta said with a grin as he took in her ruffled appearance._

_"Seta!" her mum scolded, "Don't encourage her!"_

_"Oh, right," he said meekly, "go to your room, Fuuko." Then he whispered when her mum wasn't looking, "I want to know every detail."_

_She had also been nine when her dad ran out on her and her mum for another woman._

_"Don't worry," her mum had said, dry-eyed, "I'll get a job. We'll cope."_

And cope they did, going on with their lives as if nothing had happened. It was funny how life had a habit of throwing you down the deepest, darkest pit so that you'd have to choose whether to climb your way back up or not. Fuuko chose to seek solace in her training, which intensified with her determination to prove that she was strong… to her lost father and to herself. She'd chosen that path. And it was on that path that she'd found Ganko.

Fuuko had never been close to her no-nonsense mother, having inherited her father's easygoing, mischievous nature, and had been even less so after he left; but the little puppet-master had changed all that. The memory of Ganko and Kirisawa Hikaru's first meeting still made her smile.

_"This is the girl you were talking about?" Hikaru looked at Ganko appraisingly._

_"Yeah, Mum."_

_"She's quite a little doll, isn't she?" she said sourly. "Are you sure she's nine years old?"_

_Before Fuuko could answer, Ganko piped, "I'm quite sure I'm nine years old, Mum."_

_Hikaru__ suppressed a smile at the girl's boldness. "So you do have a tongue. I hope you know how to behave yourself."_

_"Sure thing, Mum."___

_This time Hikaru smiled openly. "That's the second time you've called me that," she said, "are you sure you're comfortable with calling a stranger that?"_

_"You're not a stranger," Ganko said solemnly, "you're Fuuko-neechan's mum. She's my big sister so you must be my mum."_

_Fuuko__ watched the exchange with growing puzzlement. It wasn't going quite as she expected. And that was the first time she'd seen a smile on her mother's face since her father had left. To her surprise, Ganko went even further and hugged her mother. "I'm glad Fuuko-neechan's mum is going to be my mum now," she said._

_Hikaru__ was just as surprised as Fuuko. She looked down at the little girl who had lost so much, just as she and Fuuko had, and felt the tears she'd held in for so long come to her eyes. "It's going to be alright," she whispered, "I'm your mum now…" Then she looked up and smiled at Fuuko as she said, "…we're your family now."_

It was funny how a little girl could bring down barriers seven years old between a woman and her daughter with just five sentences and a hug. But then again, Ganko wasn't just any little girl.

Fuuko came back to the present with a start as the phone began to ring loudly. She bounded to the kitchen and grabbed the receiver. "Kirisawa residence," she said, slightly out of breath.

"Fuuko?" Hikaru's voice answered.

"Mum?"

"Yes. I just want to let you two know that I'm off early today, so I'll be back in time for dinner, okay?"

"You will?" Fuuko said, surprised.

"U-huh, I'll pick up something on the way so don't bother cooking."

"That'll be great Mum."

"See you soon."

"Bye."

Fuuko hung up, grinning. It'd been a while since the three of them had dinner together, like a real family. Things sure were looking up for the weekend!

******

"So your mum will play along, right?"

"Yeah, I'm sure she will. What about your brother?"

"Heh, heh. He might not like it, but his owes me a huge favour. His boss absolutely loves him anyway, so it should be no problem. A lot can still go wrong, though. You do realise that if any of them catches on, it's all over, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know, but I don't care. It's all for a good cause."

"You're right. I guess if that happens, there's always plan B."

The two grinned at each other.

******

Fuuko looked up as two pairs of feet thumped down the stairs. "Hey," she said, "finished already?"

"Yup," Kenji replied as he slung his bag over his shoulder, "thanks for having me, neechan."

Fuuko opened the door for him. "No prob," she said, "you okay getting back home?"

"Sure. See you later Morikawa," he said without looking at Ganko, and ran off.

"'Later Gensuki!" Ganko yelled after him.

"So, you two all set?" Fuuko asked as she shut the door.

"Mmmm. When's Mum coming back?"

"You won't believe this, but she's going to be back for dinner."

Ganko grinned at the news. "That's great!"

As if on cue, a muffled thump came from underneath the staircase.

"Kondo!" Fuuko exclaimed, "I completely forgot about him. You think we should let him out?"

Ganko grinned. "Nah," she said, "let's just leave him there for a little while longer. It's not like he's going to starve to death."

"Right." Fuuko re-pocketed the small key then said teasingly, "So… are you going to tell me about the great idea you two came up with, or are you going to change the subject again?"

"Well…" Ganko said slowly, "it's a secret."

"Okay," Fuuko shrugged, "fair enough."

Ganko sighed inwardly. She didn't like concealing things from her oneechan. But the truth was, besides the fact that Fuuko could not know what their idea was, Ganko had the feeling that she definitely would not like it.

Author's note: Geez, I'm glad that's over. Sorry if some bits seem a bit confusing with the constant switch in narrative. This chapter seems a bit out of place, being less light-hearted and all *sigh*. And I still don't know how I'm going to do the next few bits. Please read on anyway and tell me what you think.

On the next chapter, the fun begins!


	3. The Mirror Maze

**Under the Right Circumstances…******

Chapter 3: The Mirror Maze

Secondary Test Subject no. 1: Hanabishi Recca

Also sixteen, this ninja enthusiast's cheesy grins and laid-back attitude hides an extremely good fighter who can be serious in times of need. His relationship with the primary test subject is comparable to one which would exist between two sibling rivals. However, that could change, under the right circumstances…

["Is it just me, or is it starting to sound less like a science report and more like a soap opera?" ~K~

 "Shut up." ~G~]

Recca woke up, drenched in sweat. He'd had the freakiest nightmare about being trapped in a maze like a rat by two shadowy figures. He shuddered. He definitely did not want to know what that dream meant.

After having breakfast, he popped into the work shed next to the house to look in on his dad.

"Hey Pop…" he began, then stopped when he saw the cigarette hanging out of Hanabishi Shigeo's mouth. "How many times have I told you not to smoke when you're working?!" he yelled, landing a kick on the man's face.

Shigeo blinked as he swung his head back into position with a crack. There was a red shoe imprint on his face. He sighed as he picked the squashed cigarette from his teeth. "Now I have to light another one," he muttered.

Recca just shook his head as he left the shed. The old man never learned.

"Oi," Shigeo stuck his head out, a newly-lit cigarette in his mouth, "there's a letter for you on the dining table." And with a trademark Hanabishi cheesy grin, he disappeared back in the shed.

The letter Shigeo spoke of seemed to have been hand-delivered as there was no postmark, let alone a stamp, on the envelope. 'Hmm,' Recca thought, 'it could be from Hime. But why would she have this hand-delivered?'

Curious, he tore open the envelope. Inside was a note, and attached to the note was…

"A free ticket to the new amusement park?!!" Recca excitedly read the paper in his hands, "'Congratulations! You are one of the lucky few who have been chosen to receive free admission to the new Fun World Amusement Park. This ticket entitles you to free and unlimited rides for one day only.' Wow! It's about time I had some good luck. I'll wait until Hime gets back from her grandmother's so that we can go together." He looked down at the ticket. "Valid until Saturday, 5th March… WHAT?! That's today!"

Shigeo was going back into the house to get a cup of coffee when Recca dashed past him, clutching something in his hand and jabbering to himself, "Look at the time! That could be ten less rides already! Gotta run… hurry…"

Shigeo stared after him for a while then continued on his way, muttering, "Got to get more cigarettes."

******

Gensuki Seiji scanned the small crowd trickling through the turnstiles, occasionally glancing down at the three photographs in his hand. He sighed. He so did not deserve this. Helping out two nine-year-olds spy on some unsuspecting teenagers was not his idea of fun. Still, he couldn't afford Kenji telling Mum about the *ahem* thing - which would happen if he didn't do this.

Seiji's eyes were suddenly drawn to a boy wearing a bright orange and white cap. He noted the boy's black, spiky hair; his annoyingly indolent grin; how his hand held one of the maroon tickets Seiji had painfully coaxed his boss into giving him in the place of his monthly salary.

"Sei here," he said into his walkie-talkie as he waited for the boy to pass through, and then motioned those behind him to wait, "subject number one has arrived. I repeat, subject number one has arrived. He is wearing a white and orange baseball cap, a blue shirt and dark pants. He's on your left, Kenji. No, your other left!" Seiji sighed exasperatedly as he watched his little brother give him a wave of thanks and dash off after the teenager. He waved the next batch of waiting customers in.

'This is so not going to work,' he thought.

******

Ganko gesticulated urgently to Hikaru behind Fuuko's back as she felt a vibration against her hip. Fortunately, Hikaru caught on immediately and hastily drew her daughter's attention away from the little girl.

Ganko took out the pager and read the message on the screen. It was about time, she thought as she slipped it back into her pocket.

"Hey Mum! Fuuko-neechan!" she called, pretending to look at the map of the theme park they had received at the entrance. "Why don't we head to the Mirror House? It's only a short distance ahead and it sounds really fun."

"Sure," Fuuko shrugged and Hikaru nodded as was expected.

Ganko grinned. Things were finally getting under way.

******

"Yaaaah!" Recca yelled as he fell face-first onto the pavement below.

"E-heh, sorry niichan," said a brown-haired boy several years younger than him with an embarrassed smile as he got off the flame-master's back.

"Owww…" Recca rubbed his face and scowled, "what's the big hurry anyway?"

"It's just that they're opening the new mirror house today and I heard that it's really awesome."

"Really?" Recca said excitedly, "Where is it?"

"Come on, I'll show you," Kenji replied, grinning.

Teenagers were such suckers.

******

Ganko and Hikaru turned as Kenji slipped into the control room.

"Hiya," he grinned at them, "the niichan should be joining her soon."

"Yo Ken," the young man sitting in front of a row of monitors said, flashing his teeth in a grin, "I dunno what you have over your bro to make him agree to this, but it must be something dirty."

"Heh heh," Kenji gave him a fanged smile which was not unlike a certain Kougan Anki-master's.

"I'm still not sure that I'm comfortable with this," Hikaru said uncertainly.

"Don't worry Mum," Ganko said reassuringly, "it's just a mirror house. Nothing's going to happen."

"Oho, it's not just a house of mirrors," Ryousuke (the young man) said, "it's an intricate labyrinth designed so that no-one ever gets out alive! Mwahahaha!"

Ganko and Hikaru stared at him strangely.

"Hey, I wasn't serious," he laughed, misinterpreting their looks.

["You have really strange friends," Ganko whispered to Kenji.

 "Oh, and your friends are perfectly normal, aren't they?" Kenji replied sarcastically.]

"Okay people. Audio is up, and now we have visual." Ryousuke said, suddenly serious as the multitude of monitors in front of them flickered on, showing various parts of the mirror house. "Now here (he pointed to a screen where a dozen Fuukos stood) is our lady, and here (his finger moved a few screens away to a dozen Reccas making their way screen-by-screen towards the Fuukos) is our boy. All we have to do now is wait *teehee*." He gave the three another toothy grin, his serious side now nowhere to be seen. All he got were three pairs of raised eyebrows.

******

Fuuko stood hands on hip, unsure of what to do next. The place was a damn maze. First she'd lost Ganko and her mum and now she was hopelessly lost herself.

She frowned at her reflections as they frowned back. A person could go crazy trapped in a place like this for a long period of time. Speaking of which… she rubbed her eyes. Why was there a guy in her reflection?

"Ehhhh?!!" she shrieked as he turned around. "Recca?!!"

"F-fuuko?!!!" Recca exclaimed half in fright, half in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"What are **you** doing here?"

"I got this free ticket in the mail and…"

"Hey! Us too!"

"Us?"

"Yeah. I'm with Ganko and Mum. At least, was…"

"There's gotta be a way out somewhere."

"Let's go left."

"Nah, let's go right."

"No, left!"

"Right!"

"Left!!"

"Right!!!"

The two teenagers glared at each other and huffed off in opposite directions.

******

"Well that didn't go well at all," Kenji sweatdropped, "they really act like brother and sister."

"U-huh," said Ganko, writing something down on a pad, "it was kinda what I expected. Um… may I ask something, Ryousuke-san?"

"Ki-heehee, just Ryousuke is fine."

"How do we know where exactly in the maze they are? If Fuuko-neechan manages to find her way out before the others arrive, it's all over."

"I was waiting for someone to ask that." Ryousuke grinned and reached over to turn on a screen that was slightly bigger than the others. "I wasn't completely joking earlier, in that this mirror house **was** going to be closed down because almost no-one ever got out. So the management decided to install this little feature along with the video cameras that picks up the heat signatures of any living thing in the place. Heehee, it cost them thousands of dollars to install it, and the place was closed down anyway. Here we go…" A 2-dimentional picture of the mirror maze appeared on the screen. On it were two dots, which were moving in opposite directions. "I'm guessing the green dot is the cute oneechan and the red one is the spiky-haired guy." He leaned back on his chair grinning, "As you can see, they're nowhere near the exit. Pretty nifty, huh?"

"Cool," Kenji agreed, wide-eyed.

"Are you sure no-one will find us here?" Hikaru asked anxiously.

"Absolutely, pretty lady. Nobody comes up here anymore."

_"Kenji, you there?"_

All of them jumped as a voice crackled over Kenji's walkie-talkie.

_"I think you'd better come quickly. Number two's here."_

Author's note: That was a really hard chapter to write. I was basically making it up as I went which is why it might be a bit disjointed at parts. Gomen… *bowing in apology* 

And please, _please_ excuse the fact that everything is going (so conveniently) as planned for Ganko and Kenji.

And I won't be updating for a while because of work *GRRR*!! Any suggestions for a better chapter title?

On the next chapter, Ryousuke enters the mirror house in hope of winning the cute oneechan's hea….

*Ganko and Kenji flying kick combo!!! *

"What are you doing?!" ~K, as G snatches the microphone from R~

"G-gomen…teehee…" ~dazed R makes a 'peace' sign~

On the next chapter, Ganko and Kenji's experiment hangs in the balance as something unexpected happens…


	4. When Two Collide

**Under the Right Circumstances…******

Chapter 4: When Two Collide…

Secondary Test Subject no. 2: Ishijima Domon

With his hulking stature, this mohawked boy is a lot younger than he looks. Although he absolutely adores the primary test subject, his feelings are not reciprocated by his classmate, who perceives him merely as a very dear friend. However, under the right circumstances, this could all change…

["You didn't write that much about him. Maybe we should add something else about him." ~K~

 "There is nothing to add. With Domon-niichan, what you see is what you get." ~G~

 "Oh…" ~K sweatdropping~]

"Where is he now?" Kenji asked urgently as he darted through the growing crowd towards the park entrance.

_"I don't know, Kenji," _his brother's voice came over frustrated, _"I'm meant to be looking out for the third one, remember?"_

"Well, where was he headed?"

_"He seemed to be heading towards the merry-go-round."_

"The merry-go-round?" Kenji, who'd memorised the faces of the three test subjects, tried to imagine the big, nose-ringed teenager riding on one of the cute, rotating horses and failed. Miserably.

_"I didn't say he was headed **for **it, I said he was heading in that direction Kenji, so stop thinking what I know you're thinking. Now, he was wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and blue shorts. Can't tell you much besides that."_

"Roger. I'll head there now and try to see if I can spot him, okay?" Kenji said as he took a sharp left. He knew the place like the back of his hand and this path was going to take him straight to the carousel.

******

"Okay," Seiji said into his walkie-talkie. After a while, he ventured, "So little bro… after this, I don't owe you any more favours, right?"

_"Heh heh," _Seiji could practically hear his brother grinning.

"Well?" he pushed, "You promised."

_"I told you, only if everything works out."_

"Hey, it's not my fault you came up with such a lousy plan."

_"We-ell, I'll think about it…"_

"Kenji! Seiji fumed, "Since when have you ever cared about school work anyway?"

_"It's to help Ganko's neechan."_

"But isn't that the kid who always beats you up? Why would you want to help her?"

_"Teehee 'cause she's cute. You wouldn't understand niichan."_

Seiji just rolled his eyes. "Cute and violent. Doesn't make sense to me."

_"Told you suh…"_

"Huh?" Seiji shook his walkie-talkie. "You're breaking up. Kenji?"

All he got in reply was some static and then… nothing. Seiji swore. The batteries had died.

"Great," he muttered, "this day just gets better and better."

Suddenly, a tall boy with long, brown hair walked right past him. Seiji resisted the urge to laugh out maniacally. He should've been a fortune-teller. But then again, a fortune-teller would know what to do now – which he didn't.

He didn't want to leave his post to follow the guy. On the other hand, he had no way of warning Kenji of Mikagami's arrival. Seiji stood, undecided, as the tall figure grew more and more distant.

"Kuso!" He swore and beckoned one of the other employees over, "I'm taking a break, okay?" he said, running after Mikagami.

"But.."

"I'll be back soon!" he called, making sure he kept the younger boy in sight. 'This had better be worth it', he thought.

******

Secondary Test Subject no. 3: Mikagami Tokiya

With a troubled past which still haunts him, this seventeen-year-old high school heartthrob has a temperament that makes even Frosty the Snowman seem red hot. With his ice-cold demeanour and the primary test subject's steaming temper, under the right circumstances, we may yet see the workings of the theory: 'opposites attract'…

"Sei? Oniichan?"

There was no reply. Kenji sighed. Things were starting to go wrong. He scanned the people around him anxiously. There was no sign of the mohawked man.

"Shimatta," he muttered in frustration. They were in big trouble now. He was still trying to decide whether to page Ganko or not when there was a flash of yellow at the corner of his eye.

He turned. A distance to his right was a figure which hulked over the rest of the crowd. His nose ring gleaming in the sun, Ishijima Domon sauntered through the bustling crowd grinning conspicuously.

Kenji breathed a sigh of relief and slowly began to make his way to the teenager, who'd stopped at a fairy floss stall at the side of the road. It was at the point that another figure caught his eye. With his brown hair flowing behind him, even Kenji stopped in his tracks in admiration. Then he shook his head and yelled aloud in panic. Mikagami Tokiya was heading straight towards Ishijima.

Kenji tried to push his way forward in the dense crowd, but it was like trying to run underwater. With a sinking feeling (no pun intended), he knew he wasn't going to make it.

******

Seiji lunged forward in desperation as Mikagami neared the mohawked man. It the two met each other, it would be all over for him.

He was so close to Mikagami. Only a few steps more…

Then he tripped.

He lay on the ground, numb. Kenji was going to tell on him, and his mum would make sure that he was dead by morning.

Seiji waited expectantly for an exclamation of "What are you doing here?!" or the like from one of the two teenagers, but none came.

Slowly picking himself up, he looked up apprehensively. All he saw was Ishijima's face peering at him strangely, a stick of cotton candy in his hand. "Uh, you okay?" he asked.

Seiji looked around for Mikagami and saw him walking up ahead. He had completely missed Ishijima.

"Gawww…" Seiji clutched at his chest. He felt as though he'd had a heart attack.

"Uh…" Domon gave him another strange look.

Ignoring him, Seiji painfully continued his pursuit of the Ensui-wielder. Ishijima was Kenji's responsibility and Mikagami was his.

He groaned. This was so not worth it.

******

Kenji expelled the long breath he'd been holding. It'd been sheer luck that the two boys had passed without seeing each other. Then he grinned as he saw a decidedly ruffled Seiji take off after the other boy. 'Thanks niichan,' he thought.

He quickly made his way towards Domon. He'd better do something before things got out of hand again. When he was close enough, Kenji darted forward and grabbed the fairy floss out of the big man's hand.

"Hey!" Domon yelled, diving forward, but his hands only grasped air.

"Heehee, betcha can't catch me!" Kenji stuck his tongue out and took off, making sure he kept in sight of the older boy.

Domon gave a roar that scattered the crowd and charged after the boy. He was going to get his candy back at any cost.

******

Seiji's heart thumped hard in his chest as Mikagami turned around again. This time, the teenager started walking in his direction. Seiji quickly dived towards the nearest stall for cover.

"Well, what a surprise," a voice said dryly.

"Huh?" Seiji looked up and groaned when he saw a black-haired girl about his age behind the table. Why, of all the stalls, did he have to pick this one?

"I thought you were on entrance duty," Chihiro said, unsmiling, as she folded her arms.

"I-I am," Seiji said, taking furtive glances at the approaching Mikagami, "I'm just taking a break at the moment."

Chihiro looked at him disbelievingly and followed his eyes towards Mikagami. Seiji saw her look and quickly said, "Uh, so… how's business going?"

She harrumphed. "Since when have you cared?" she said bitingly.

The two first met in high school two years ago. Chihiro had transferred from another local school and ever since an unfortunate incident where Seiji had spilled ink all over her uniform, they'd never gotten along. Their relationship turned even nastier when the two found out that they were workmates a few weeks ago, getting part-time jobs at the same amusement park.

Seiji peeked at Mikagami out of the corner of his eyes. The swordsman was heading straight towards him now. "Look, I gotta go," he said to Chihiro in a panicked voice.

"What..?" she started to ask when the brown-haired boy Seiji had been watching appeared in front of them.

"Why are you following me?" he asked Seiji in an icy-cold voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Seiji felt beads of perspiration forming on his brow.

"I believe you've followed me the moment I set foot in this place." The boy hadn't raised his voice at all, but his tone made the hairs on Seiji's neck rise.

Chihiro quietly watched the exchange. She was startled to see a desperate look on Seiji's face. She'd never seen him look like that before. She'd always thought him an arrogant and snooty guy, especially since he'd never apologised for the ink incident. But now, he just looked like a normal boy, with all traces of that arrogance gone. Maybe that was what made her intervene on his behalf.

"Excuse me," she said without blinking an eye at the lie she was about to tell, "I think there must be some kind of misunderstanding. You see, Gensuki is our wandering fortune teller. That is, his job is to wander through the crowd and tell people their fortunes. It keeps the customers happy and entertained. That's why you must've thought he was following you."

Sceptical blue eyes regarded her. But she sounded so convincing that the boy didn't ask any questions.

Seiji, meanwhile, was looking at Chihiro in astonishment. She was… helping him out? Didn't she absolutely hate him? Then he shook his head as he remembered what was at stake.

"Uh, that's right," he said, thinking quickly as Mikagami turned back to him. "I'm sorry if I scared you in any way, sir." Seiji felt mildly humiliated at having to call a younger boy "sir", but pride was not the most important thing at the moment. "Let me make it up to you by telling you your fortune."

Mikagami just turned and started to walk away.

"Hey, I'm not a fake , you know! People are willing to pay me for my services!" Seiji called desperately after him. "You have to go to the mirror house behind the dodgem car complex! You'll find what you're looking for there!"

The tall boy's shoulders slumped as he watched Mikagami disappear into the surging crowd. There was nothing he could do now except wait… and hope. He turned back. Chihiro was watching him in a way which made him feel uncomfortable. "So, why exactly were you following him?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"Well…" he started to say, then stopped. "Wait a minute. You don't think that I…"

"What? I didn't say anything."

Seiji groaned in frustration. "You didn't **have to say anything! I was not stalking him or anything like that!"**

"Sure," Chihiro said, sounding anything but it.

"I really wasn't!"

"Whatever."

There was an awkward silence. Then:-

"Thanks."

Surprised brown eyes met a pair of earnest hazel ones. It was odd that she'd never noticed it before. Well… maybe not, when she considered how she'd always thought of kicking his butt instead of looking at him. But… he had really beautiful eyes. Chihiro felt her cheeks grow hot as she caught herself. She quickly turned away. There was no way she'd let Gensuki see her blush! "It's no problem," she said, forcing a shrug.

Seiji knew he should've left right then, but he didn't. He cleared his throat. He was so going to regret this! "You know," he said, embarrassed, "I'm sorry about that, uh, I mean the, um, first day of school when… you know. It was an accident. I wanted to apologise sooner, but… I never got the chance."

Chihiro turned back to look at him. It was true, now that she thought about it. Whenever Seiji had come within conversation distance, she would angrily stalk away in the opposite direction.

"That's okay," she mumbled and, to Seiji's great surprise, gave him a fleeting smile. "I guess we both acted like idiots back then."

Seiji didn't know why, but as he started to walk back to his post, he felt as though a great weight had been lifted off his chest. Heck, he really couldn't care less if Kenji told on him now. Okay, maybe that wasn't exactly true… Anyway, he did feel as though things were getting a whole lot better.

"Definitely," he said aloud.

"Hey, Gensuki!" Chihiro's voice called after him, making people nearby turn in curiousity, "I couldn't let you go without you knowing! He definitely was not your type at all!"

Seiji spluttered and tripped. Next time, he should just keep his big mouth shut.

Author's note: Had lots of fun writing that :). I'm thinking that there'll just be one more chapter. Tell me what you think, guys. Btw, will take me a while to update (again) because I really dunno how this is all going to end.

What'll happen to Ganko's and Kenji's experiment? Will it succeed or will it not succeed? And who will Fuuko choose? What abour Ryousuke? What **about** Ryousuke? All will be revealed next chapter. Stay tuned.

(Don't worry, I'm just being silly.)


	5. and in the End

**Under the Right Circumstances…******

Chapter 5: …and in the End…

Fuuko breathed a sigh of relief. She'd finally reached the outer wall of the maze. All she had to do now was follow it and she'd be out of here in no time. It was eerie seeing nothing except countless reflections of yourself. Not that that was getting to her of course, Fuuko thought. She wasn't, after all, someone who was spooked easily.

Fuuko laughed out loud and picked up her pace. She felt much better after that. Hearing something else besides the thumping of her footsteps was a comfort. Maybe she should sing something to pass the time. Err, maybe not.

She stopped suddenly and cocked her head to one side. 'What the hell…?' Fuuko thought. She could've sworn that she'd just heard Domon's voice. She shook her head. Now she was hearing things. Why on earth would Domon be…

"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU BRAT?!!"

Fuuko jumped. There was no mistake. That was definitely her big friend's voice. She turned around in time to see her long-time friend hurtling towards her at full speed.

"FUUKO?!" Domon exclaimed, stopping mid-stride so suddenly that he tripped and somersaulted through the air a couple of times before landing on his head.

"Domon!" An anxious Fuuko ran to his still form, convinced no-one could have survived such an experience.

She shouldn't have bothered. Her mohawked classmate leapt to his feet immediately as if nothing had happened. "Fuuko! (*joy*)" was all he said.

Fuuko scowled, p.o.'d that he had made her worry for nothing. "Domon, you're bleeding," she said through clenched teeth as she pointed to the torrent of blood gushing out of a cut of his forehead.

"Ah, I can endure anything for my Fuuko (*heart*)," Domon said happily as he reached for her, arms flung out.

"And just who is **your** Fuuko?" a scowling fuujin-master said, batting him away. "Let's just focus on getting out of here first, okay?"

"Okay, Fuuko." Domon replied obediently, "Oh and by the way, have you seen the little brat who took my fairy floss?"

"No," Fuuko said through gritted teeth. Trust Domon to think about food at a time like this. Then she stopped as a thought struck her. "In fact," she said slowly, "I haven't seen anyone else in here at all except for…" she trailed off, frowning. "Domon, have you seen Re…" Fuuko shrieked mid-sentence as an arm caught her around her waist.

"Don't worry Fuuko darling," Domon said, nuzzling his face against her shoulder, "I'm here with you…"

"Cut it out, Domon! You're getting blood on my favourite shirt!"

"…and we can survive because we're here together. Even if we're doomed to be trapped in here forever." The big man didn't sound too doomed about that last prospect, however.

"Domon!" Fuuko yelled, elbowing her friend in the face, "Would you be serious for once?!"

"But I am serious," Domon said, hurt. "I've always been se…"

Fuuko frowned as a funny look came over the big man's face. "Domon, are you alright?" she asked. The big man did not reply as he suddenly collapsed on the ground.

"Domon!" Fuuko knelt beside her friend. To her relief, she could find nothing wrong with the big man except that he had lost a significant amount of blood. "You big lug!" Fuuko said angrily, wiping away unshed tears from her eyes, "Always trying to put on a brave face!" (I think she missed the irony in that one).

Fuuko tore a strip from her shirt and tied a makeshift bandage around Domon's head. He'd be fine, she thought. After all, he'd had way worse injuries inflicted on him in the past. Fuuko smiled affectionately. "I'll be back for you after I find my way out, okay Domon?" she said aloud. The only reply she got was a string of snores. Fuuko's smile was immediately replaced by a scowl. Was the idiot unconscious or sleeping?!

'Honestly!' she thought as she continued on her way, 'Domon's never going to change.' But, then again, that was what she liked about her big friend. Although she'd like it better if he'd just let up on the courting thing. Fuuko was honestly flattered by the fact that Domon had a little crush on her, but it was getting to an uncomfortable stage now.

However, at the moment there was something else bothering her as well. Something completely different. The only two people she had run into so far were the two she'd least expect to run into in a place like this. Who was next? Mikagami? Fuuko smirked. She hated to admit it, but the ensui-wielder would be a welcome sight in this type of situation. Anyhow, either this was all a coincidence or… something else.

'Well,' Fuuko thought, frowning, 'first I get out and get help for Domon. Then I'm going to get to the bottom of this!'

******

Unbeknownst to Fuuko, Domon **had fallen asleep, not unconscious as she'd initially feared, as a result of the physical exertion he had applied in chasing after Kenji. And it wasn't a long sleep either. In fact, he woke up only half a minute after Fuuko's departure.**

"Fuu…?" he said as he stood up, rejuvenated. "FUUKO?!"

There was no reply from his beloved. Domon sighed. Why did Fuuko always run away from him? After all, what was not to like? Domon thought as he admired his profile in the mirror before him. The gorgeous bronze-tanned skin, the impressively-muscled forearms and thighs, that irresistible pearly-white smile…

"Hey, looking good," Domon grinned as he flexed his biceps. "Wait a sec…" the big man frowned as he focussed on the strip of green cloth around his forehead. "Isn't that…?"

Domon clapped a hand to his mouth. "Fuuko… you do care!" he yelled joyfully and ran forth with renewed enthusiasm. The big man didn't exactly know where he was going, as he weaved his way left and right through the mirror passages – he only had one thing in mind: find Fuuko.

He was so blinded with joy that when he finally caught sight of a figure, he tore towards it, arms outstretched. "I'm here, babyyy!" he yelled, taking his beloved in his arms.

"D-domon!!"

"I know," Domon sobbed, "I feel the same way too."

"Domon! Let me go!"

"I can't, my love! I won't! We'll die together!"

"What the…? It's me, you idiot!!"

"Huh?" Domon blinked away his tears to find a struggling flame-master in his arms. "RECCA?!!" he shrieked, dropping his friend immediately.

"Just who else did you think I was!" Recca yelled, wild-eyed from his ordeal. He'd never been so scared in his entire life.

"I… have you seen Fuuko?" Domon said, downcast.

"Hell, no! I can't believe you…" Recca shuddered. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"That's right!" Domon thumped a fist on his hand as he remembered why he was here in the first place, "My fairy floss!"

"Your fairy…" Recca repeated slowly as he looked at Domon as if he was crazy. He shook his head. Maybe he was the one going crazy. Man, he **had** to get out of this place! "Do you have any idea how to get out of here?"

Domon thought long and hard. Then he came up with his best suggestion, "Walk?"

Recca sighed frustratedly. Honestly! The guy was a living, breathing epitome of 'all brawn and no brains'. No help whatsoev…

Recca mouth fell open as something dawned on him. Of course! It had been so obvious! "I have an idea," he said.

******

"Wow, your neechan's one smart chick, thinking of following the wall," Ryousuke said admiringly as he traced the path of the green dot with a finger.

Ganko paused in the middle of her scribbling and looked up. "Yeah, I know," she said proudly.

"That Mikagami guy's doing it too," Kenji remarked, his eyes following the blue dot.

Ganko shrugged. "Mikagami-niichan's a genius, what else do you expect?"

"I s'pose so… hey, where'd your Mum go?"

"Poor Mum, she feels so guilty about doing this. She left right after you did. Said she wanted to look around."

"Hee, I can just imagine your mum on that merry-go-round."

"What did you say?"

"Uh, nothing…"

"You said you could just imagine her on that merry-go-round!"

"Uh, no I didn't."

"Yeah, you did!"

"W-wait, Morikawa!"

Ryousuke took no notice of the scuffle. His eyes were fixed on a short-haired girl on the monitors before him. Even in black-and-white, determination and purpose radiated from her through the screen. "Yup," Ryousuke said softly, almost longingly, "she's really special." Then he reverted to his normal, goofy self, and sighed mockingly, "Oh well, a guy like me always falls for the cute girls." He was about to turn to the two kids behind him when something on one of the monitors caught his eye.

Ganko was in midst of dealing the finishing punch when Ryousuke exclaimed aloud. Kenji, though a bit groggy, looked up as well. "What?" they both asked.

"The gorilla man-boy and the spiky-haired dude!" Ryousuke choked and pointed to one of the screens.

The two kids jumped to his side and followed his trembling finger. Having failed to think up of a tactful way of getting out, Recca and Domon had resorted to the only other way they were familiar with.

"I should've expected this," Ganko sweatdropped.

"Wow, I don't think anyone's ever thought of getting out of a maze **that way before," Kenji said, wide-eyed, "I'm not sure if they're crazy or just dumb."**

[ 'How about both,' Ganko thought. ]

"Don't sound so admiring then," the brown-haired technician spluttered. "But that's not what I'm worried about." Then without explanation, he stood up and started herding the two children out.

"What is it?" Kenji asked anxiously. He'd never seen the older boy so grim.

As if on cue, the ground started to shake, prompting the three to reach out for something to hold on to.

"What was that?!" Ganko yelled.

"Heh," Ryousuke looked abashed, "uh, you remember when I told you kiddies that this place was closed down despite having cameras installed? Well, um, the reason why they had to close it down was because… thecomplexdidn'tpassthesafetytests."

"What?!" Ganko and Kenji exclaimed in unison.

"Theykindasortasaidtheplacewasunsafe."

"What?!"

Ryousuke looked pained. "You want me to repeat that?"

"No, you idiot!" The two yelled at him, "Why didn't you tell us this earlier?!"

"Well," Ryousuke twiddled his thumbs, "I didn't think your two friends would decide to punch their way through… heh."

The ground shook again, this time more violently, and debris started to fall from the ceiling. "Look this is no time to argue," Ryousuke said seriously, "we have to get out of here."

"No!" Ganko yelled, "I'm not leaving without Fuuko-neechan!"

"We can't help her, little lady," Ryousuke said sorrowfully, but firmly, "we can only hope that she and the others get out in time."

"No!"

Kenji grasped the little puppetmaster's arm tightly and steered her towards the exit. "Ryousuke's right," the little boy said, "we have to get out first."

"No!" Ganko began hitting her classmate with her fists, "Let go!"

"Ganko," Kenji didn't even flinch as one of her wild punches caught him on the face, "neechan's special, remember? She always finds a way out."

Ganko looked back at a running Fuuko on one of the monitors and sighed in defeat. "Yeah," she whispered. 

'I hope you're right…'

******

Fuuko fell to the ground as the place started shaking again. What on earth was going on? The place looked like it was about to collapse. But she knew she was close to the exit. She could feel it. Fuuko was about to sprint for it when she caught herself. Domon! He could still be lying where she left him, out cold. And what about Ganko, or her mum? They could still be wandering around, frightened that the ceiling could come down on them any minute.

Fuuko turned 180 degrees and ran as fast as she could back the way she came. She had no idea where they were, and without her fuujin, Fuuko realised that she was just as vulnerable as they were. But she couldn't just leave her family, or her friend, to die.

Fuuko ran, for how long she didn't know, but had to stop when she came to a section where the wall had collapsed and there was no way through.

"No!" Fuuko fell to her knees, ignoring the shards of glass piercing her through the flimsy cloth of her pants. "Domon! Mum! Gankooo!"

There was an ominous groan overhead as a section of the ceiling began to give way. Fuuko lunged sideways desperately, but wasn't quick enough. Something caught the back of her head and Fuuko's world plunged in darkness.

******

Mikagami frowned. What was he doing here? There was nothing here for him. Certainly nothing that he was looking for… Not, of course, that he'd expected to find anything. No, the almighty Mikagami Tokiya never believed in anything as petty as fortunes.

The ensui-wielder was thinking up of the 34th unpleasant thing he'd do to a certain gangly so-called fortune-teller when the first rumblings occurred. "What…?" It sounded like there was a thunderstorm outside. But when the ground shook more violently for the second time, Mikagami needed no further warning. There wasn't something going on outside, something was going on inside the building. Mikagami didn't know what exactly, but he wasn't going to hang around to find out.

'It must be an ambush!' Mikagami thought furiously, 'I knew Meguri Kyoza was behind this somehow! Sensei…'

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. He could hear something… and it sounded like a voice - a very familiar voice.

Mikagami sprinted forward. It couldn't be! It just wasn't possible! But even despite this logic, a long-suffering Mikagami still hoped…

It wasn't long before the long-haired boy found his path blocked. Impatiently, Mikagami took out what looked like a very short dagger and the water-bottle that he always had with him. He uncapped the bottle and poured the liquid on the knife. Instead of dripping off onto the ground, the water froze around it, forming a long, elegant blade.

"Ensui," Mikagami said softly, "help me clear a way through the debris. TSURANARU HEBI!"

A snake made from icicles sped from his blade and through the obstruction before him, clearing a path large enough for Mikagami to step through. Swallowing nervously, he looked around. His heart jumped when he saw a crumpled form lying at one side, covered in white dust. Mikagami ran towards her and gingerly picked her up in his arms. With his heart thumping wildly, he gently wiped the dust from her face with a sleeve. He looked at the face before him and couldn't contain a strangled sob. It was a face he knew, but not the face he had hoped.

'Of course it wouldn't be,' Mikagami thought self-mockingly, 'did you really expect…?'

A large fragment from the ceiling hit the ground beside Mikagami, narrowly missing him. That brought the ensui-wielder back to the situation at hand. He sped forward grim-faced. How could he lose controls of his emotions like that? Mifuyu was dead. It'd happened right before his eyes. And yet, he still harboured the hope that she was still alive, somehow…

Mikagami doubled his pace, not hampered at all by the load of the fuujin-wielder, who was surprisingly light. When he burst through the exit and into the warm sunlight, Mikagami ran a safe distance away from the building before coming to a stop. Then he collapsed to his knees on the grass, holding his team-mate close to him.

He looked down at her and was disturbed to find dried blood on her shirt and pants. "Kirisawa," he said urgently, gently shaking the girl, "wake up."

'Please wake up, please…'

Fuuko stirred. "Dad…" she murmured before slowly opening her eyes. She smiled when she saw Mikagami. "I knew I'd see you next."

Mikagami frowned. What was she talking about?

"This has to all be a dream, right? After all, what are the chances of running into you three at the same place on the same day?"

"Fuuko, what…?"

"Shhhh…" To the older boy's disbelief, she placed a finger on his lips. "It's my dream and I don't want you to talk at the moment. You know, being rescued by my knight in shining armour who turns out to be Mi-chan makes for a really twisted dream. But you know what? I'm going to enjoy it. So…" the girl snuggled closer to the startled boy, hooking her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest, "…please take me home."

To say that Mikagami was speechless would be the greatest understatement of the year (and many years to come). Not knowing what else to do, he picked her up and did as she wished. Well… sort of. He didn't exactly carry her to her doorstep (Mikagami knew that he'd die of exhaustion before he'd make it out of the amusement park, and besides, he didn't even know where she lived). But he did, at least, bring her to the front of the remains of the building, where he found an anxious Ganko, Kenji and Ryousuke waiting. There he carefully set down Fuuko, who'd once again lapsed into unconsciousness, before the amazed trio.

"Mikagami-niichan!" Ganko exclaimed, "Is Fuuko alright?"

"I guess so," the teenager replied and quickly made his exit before anyone questioned him further. As he walked away, Mikagami tried to smirk. "As if she'd let something like that kill her, that loudmouthed tomboy," he said aloud to himself. But no matter what he said, he could still picture her smile in his mind. He could still feel the press of her finger on his lips…

Mikagami shook his head vehemently and stuffed his hands in his pockets. What on earth was he thinking?! Mikagami scowled. This was all **his** fault!

And for the rest of the evening and certainly not for the first time that day, all Mikagami Tokiya thought about was this: getting his hands on a certain fortune-teller…

******

"Fuuko?"

The first thing Fuuko saw when she opened her eyes was an anxious little face peering down at her. "Ganko!" she said, leaping up, "You're safe!"

"Uh, should you be getting up like that, neechan?" Kenji asked, looking pointedly at the older girl's blood-caked clothes.

"Kenji, is it?" Fuuko said as she turned to him, "What are you doing here?"

"Um…"

"Oh, his brother works here." Ryousuke jumped in, grinning, "Of course, so do I. A technician, ya know. May I introduce myself? I'm…" The youth found himself addressing empty air as the three had begun walking away, the two nine-year-olds supporting the fuujin-wielder in spite of her protests.

"Weird guy," he heard Fuuko say.

"Yeah, we know…"

Ryousuke's shoulders slumped. "Ah well, time for my exit. Or not. Hey, do I get the next chapter? Maybe, you know, a chapter on Ryousuke's past. Hey! Hey, don't cut me o…"

******

"We should wait here for Mum," Ganko said as they stopped at what used to be the mirror house exit.

"Hey, this place looks familiar," Fuuko frowned, "I think I had a dream here… "

Ganko and Kenji looked at each other, puzzled. "What dream?"

"Oh, it was really weird," Fuuko replied with a smile, "because Mikagami was in it."

"Uh, are you sure you dreamt that?" Kenji said.

"Yeah," agreed Ganko, "Mikagami-niichan did rescue you after all."

Fuuko's jaw dropped. "You mean… it **wasn't** a dream?!" she practically shrieked. "No! NO!!"

Ganko and Kenji stared at her curiously as she turned a bright shade of red. "Just what exactly did you do?" Ganko asked.

"How can this be? I'm ruined!" Fuuko rambled aloud, unmindful of the other two. "What's he going to think of me now? Why didn't that idiot say something?!" Then the teenager groaned miserably, "I bet he's somewhere laughing at me, that popsicle! This is the most embarrassing moment of my life!"

Kenji sweatdropped as Ganko muttered, "I'm pretty embarrassed myself."

"MIKAGAMI! YOU"RE DEAD MEAT!!!"

******

Meanwhile, not so very far away… a tired Mikagami stopped as a sudden wave of dread swept through him. He blinked, perplexed. What the hell was **that**?

******

"Hey, we're home." 

Fuuko started and looked up to see Hikaru and Ganko peering at her anxiously as they held the car door open for her.

"What's wrong?" Hikaru asked.

"We-ell…" Fuuko replied slowly as she got out, "I just have this funny feeling that I'm forgetting something."

The three females stood on the driveway, deep in thought. After a minute or so:

 "Ah, it's probably nothing," Fuuko said, shrugging, "hey, how 'bout some chocolate cake, Mum…?"

Little did she know…

******

"This is all your fault!"

"What?!"

"Your fault! Your! Fault!"

"You're the one who said: 'Let's punch through the wall'! Gee, great idea Hanabishi!"

"Well, you didn't say anything, did you?"

There was silence as Domon tried to think up a reply. But his head was starting to hurt so he let it go. This time. "My arms are getting tired," he whimpered.

"Stop being such a wimp, Domon." Recca said, annoyed, "If you stop holding the ceiling up, the whole thing's gonna come down on us."

"How long do I have to keep doing this?" the big man asked, "I've got a crick in my neck."

"I told ya, someone's gotta come along sooner or later."

"Are you sure?"

"'Course, moron!"

Silence.

"Recca, my back is itchy."

"Wha…? Stop complaining you big idiot!"

"But… I'm gonna drop this."

"Ignore it then!"

"*Whimper* I can't…"

"Alright, alright! *Shudder* I… guess I'll scratch. Ugh! You'd better not tell anyone about this…"

And so it went on until 4 hours later, when the rescue squad arrived to pull the two wild-eyed boys out from the wreckage.

Author's note: I know that was a bit abrupt, sorry. But I did lie. This isn't the last chapter. Well, it kinda is. This turned out longer than I expected, so I'm just ending this chapter here. Next one's going to be the epilogue, so it's kind of another chapter (a very short one)… or not, however you see it. Enough rambling. Sorry this took so long. Had to tackle assignments, writer's block… you know, the usual. Thanks for taking the time to r&r guys. One more to go…


	6. Epilogue

**Under the Right Circumstances…**

Epilogue

"You know," Sakoshita Yanagi said to the black-haired girl next to her as they filed out of the classroom, "it's weird that both Domon-kun and Recca-kun are away today. I wonder if something happened to them on the weekend."

"Eh?" Fuuko said guiltily, "What makes you say that?"

"It's just that…" Yanagi blushed, "Recca-kun said that he'd call me yesterday when I got back from my grandma's and he didn't."

"Wow," Fuuko said, shaking her head, "the ever reliable Recca… I don't believe it." Then she added straight-faced, "It breaks my heart to tell you this Yanagi, but you might have to assume the worst. Missed calls, broken promises, not to mention all this happening while you were away from town for a day, it leads me to but one conclusion…"

Yanagi's eyes were filled with apprehension. "W-what?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"Hanabishi must definitely be consorting with another girl!"

Yanagi's hand flew to her mouth, "T-that can't be!"

"I'm afraid that it must," Fuuko started seriously then burst out laughing.

"Fuuko!"

"Sorry, couldn't help myself. Honestly, it was only a joke, Yanagi."

"You mustn't joke about these things, Fuuko," the brown-haired girl said gravely.

"Hai, hai," Fuuko said dismissively then said teasingly, "so it's **that serious now, huh?"**

Yanagi blushed again, slightly annoyed by her friend's light-hearted attitude towards matters of the heart. "You know what else is weird?" she said, inspecting Fuuko closely, "Mikagami-senpai."

Fuuko's step faltered slightly. A slight hesitation, but a reaction nonetheless. If Yanagi hadn't been watching, she would've definitely missed it.

"What? The ice boy?" Fuuko hooted loudly, "He always acts weird."

Yanagi continued to stare at her, but her friend's face gave nothing away.

The reason why Yanagi had mentioned Mikagami's name in the first place was because of what had transpired earlier that morning. She and Fuuko were hurrying to their next class when they had run into the older boy in the hallway. The two had ignored each other (that was not very unusual) but Yanagi could have sworn that Fuuko's cheeks had turned a faint pink. And now her suspicions had been confirmed, something had happened between those two. Fuuko seemed angry (or was it something else?) at Mikagami about something, but for what Yanagi didn't know… and wisely, she did not ask.

That train of thought did not linger in the healer's mind however, as the two girls parted at the school gate. Her mind had already turned to a disconcerting qualm. Fuuko might have been joking before, and it was not that she didn't trust him, but Yanagi made up her mind that she'd pay her ninja a visit… just in case.

******

"… we left them overnight and this is what they look like now." Ganko nodded to Kenji, who removed the cover to reveal three beakers filled with coloured water. There were cries of "Sugoi!" and "Kirei!" as their classmates stared at the brilliant blue, red and yellow celery stalks in their respective beakers.

"You can see that the dye runs from the bottom of the stem and into the leaves through these tubes in the stalk. That's how plants get water from the ground up to their leaves."

There was a round of applause as the two finished their presentation. "That's very good Ganko-chan and Kenji-chan," the teacher said approvingly, "a well chosen and well presented experiment."

Ganko and Kenji smiled at each other.

******

"Well, well, I guess simple is always the best," Kenji said sheepishly to Ganko afterwards.

The little puppet-master only shrugged in reply.

"Ne, Ganko-chan," Kenji said hesitantly, "now that our partnership is over, can we still be friends?"

"...."

That was as good as a 'yes' for Kenji. He grinned. "I just know that we're going to be great friends, ganko-Ganko!"

Ganko nodded slowly. "And now that our truce is over…" she brought up her little fists, "did you think you were going to get away with calling me that?!"

"Ah! Gomen, gomen! Argh, stop hitting me!"

"Uh, Ken?"

The two nine-year-olds stopped scuffling and looked up. "Niichan," Kenji said, surprised, "what are you doing here?"

"Uh, well," Seiji said awkwardly, "I was just passing by, so I thought I might as well walk you home."

Kenji was speechless. Seiji never did anything with him before.

"Uh," the tall boy's eyes flickered to Ganko, "you finished here, Ken?"

"Yeah, um, 'later Morikawa."

"Yeah," Ganko watched the two boys depart curiously. So **that was Kenji's brother.**

"So, um, how was the presentation?" Seiji asked uncomfortably.

"Uh, great," Kenji replied, equally awkward. It was weird to actually have a talk with his niichan.

"So everything went successfully, right?"

"Uh, sure," Kenji wasn't about to tell Seiji that his efforts had gone down the drain. The truth would probably kill him.

"So… you're not going to tell Mum about the… you know, right?"

So this was what Seiji was up to. Kenji snickered. He knew that his brother couldn't have grown nice just overnight. "Oh, you mean about that vase that's been passed down in the Gensuki family for five generations that Mum absolutely adores and which you broke la- "

"Shh!" Seiji clamped a hand over his brother's mouth and looked around anxiously as if the menacing figure of his mother was about to appear any moment. "Not so loud!"

"Hee," Kenji chortled, "'course I'm not going to tell. I don't go back on my word, niichan."

"Great," Seiji sighed, relieved, "I won't have to kill you then… for now at least."

"However, I still hold your dark horrible secret, right?" Kenji grinned, "Just because I'm not going to tell this time, doesn't mean I won't next time."

"Next ti- ? Why you… hey!" Seiji yelled as the small boy took off, "Kenji! What do you mean by 'next time'?!"

******

 "How'd your project go?" Fuuko asked Ganko as they walked home.

"Oh, great. We got full marks."

"That's really good."

There was a short silence as Ganko peered anxiously at Fuuko. She didn't seem herself, distracted and quiet. "Fuuko-neechan?"

"Hmm?"

"Is… something wrong?"

Fuuko stopped, deep in thought, "…maybe."

There was no doubt that she'd been furious with Mikagami after what had happened on Saturday. But Fuuko now realised that she had no reason to. It wasn't Mikagami's fault that she felt humiliated. It was her big mouth's fault. She had been angry because she was afraid that Mikagami thought less of her now. But what was said could not be unsaid now. The point was that Mikagami hadn't humiliated her, he'd saved her life and she'd… she'd done nothing in return.

"I should've thanked him, and I just walked away."

"Huh?" Ganko looked at the older girl quizzically.

"Uh, nothing," Fuuko laughed self-consciously, "don't worry, I'm alright."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup! Hey, Mum's going to be home early today. Why don't we cook dinner for her together and pick up something for dessert?"

"Really?! Why don't we get one of those cakes Mum really loves and…"

_Tomorrow… I **will thank him. Definitely.**_

Author's note: Hey guys, I've finally finished, yay! Wasn't sure how to end it all but what the heck… Hope you guys weren't disappointed. I know epilogues are meant to be short but I felt that this wasn't long enough to be an actual chapter. And btw I hope this chapter clears up all the loose ends. If not, tell me and I'll see if I can be bothered to deal with it. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the fic and sorry for any inconsistencies, ne?

On an additional note, the ending is the way it is because I always intended the story to revolve mainly around Fuuko and Ganko (although I think I kinda strayed from that through the middle bits). Also, I admit that I tend not to resolve every single detail. I prefer to leave things unsaid and to your imaginations. I know it's an annoying habit, but that's the way I like to write. (gomen):)


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